Meat Loaf: Hell In A Handbasket (2011)

When "Bat out of Hell" was released, the audience who'd fallen in love with this classic rock album had to wait four years for a follow-up, which Meat and Jim actually did with two albums: Jim's "Bad for Good" and Meat's "Dead Ringer". The turnaround on "Dead Ringer" and "Midnight at the Lost and Found" had been pretty fast, but in general fans had gotten used to waiting. Look at the seven years between "Blind Before I Stop" and "Bat out of Hell II", which mind you was well worth it. Then after "Welcome to the Neighbourhood", besides the few odd recordings here and there ("Tonight is Right for Love", the Isaac Hayes duet on "South Park" Chef Aid is frigging brilliant), it felt like Meat had packed it in altogether.

After 2010's "Hang Cool Teddy Bear", I was surprised that Meat was releasing another album so quickly. The closest I'd seen to anything like that was "Welcome to the Neighbourhood". The dust had only just begun to settle, (and actually they could have released like three more singles), when "I'd Lie for You" suddenly appeared on Australian TV's "Video Hits" one weekend. So naturally I wouldn't have to wait all that long, and the title "Hell in a Handbasket" seemed like a pretty nifty one. It was powerful, dramatic and amusing, which was often typical of Meat.

I have to admit though, at that point I'd only ever heard "Hang Cool Teddy Bear" once all the way through, and the opinions of other fans who listened to that album didn't really surprise me all that much either, so I remember actually not really being all that excited by it. The excitement would happen when I played the album for the first time.

This time, Meat would be recording on the Sony Legacy label, having left Mercury who had released all of his albums from "Couldn't Have Said it Better" onward, and Paul Crook from Meat Loaf and the Neverland Express would be producing. It was the first time since 1984 that someone from Meat's band had done that. The songwriting talent this time would be a couple writers who had already worked on "Hang Cool" and some new ones joining the table as well, but again no Jim Steinman. The question would inevitably be raised at this point: would they ever work together again? And what would it be like if they did? Meanwhile Jim was busy working on a musical version of "Bat out of Hell", the production of his nearly 50 year opus "Neverland".

It was late 2011 while I was working on a production of a rock musical that I walked into the local JB and found the CD sitting there, in the Meat Loaf section almost as if it had been released five years ago and everyone missed the fanfare. I picked it up straight away, gazing at the front cover which was a morbid picture of Earth all made out of skulls. Meat had said "The world's gone to hell in a handbasket and every day that I listen to the news, I think the handbasket is getting bigger" and the imagery here was certainly getting that point across. It would change too. The globe would be facing a different continent, depending on where you lived, although the UK, Europe and US had to wait something like four more months to see it. Hell in a handbasket indeed...

I got the album home and by the end of it, I honestly felt like I was experiencing a Meat Loaf renaissance, and that this album had to take off. This is not an opinion that everyone shared but it was an opinion I felt strongly about, a feeling that turned into despair when like a few weeks or so later Meat went to sing at the opening of the AFL Grand Final. If you live down under, this is one of the things Meat's always remembered for now. He and John Farnham have the two biggest selling albums in our music history, but Meat is always the guy who ruined the AFL with his attempt at singing. At that point, what hope did I have with this album down under? It was an emotional difficult experience, since I hadn't felt this strongly about new Meat Loaf music since "Couldn't Have Said it Better" and this is what happened. I wasn't even thinking then about what it would do to him musically in the long run. His live album/DVD was filmed on the "Guilty Pleasure Tour" in Australia and that was the last time we ever saw him.

Let's have a look at the songs. Again, like my "Bad Attitude" review, I'm going to be looking at two different versions, since the album was rearranged and even re-recorded on one song for the US/European releases.

Australian:

"All of Me"---this was a great moment for Meat after his eruption on "Celebrity Apprentice" and why it didn't get a bigger release as a single than it did baffles me, because I think it would have been appreciated. It got me from the moment that intro started.

"Fall from Grace"---on first listen, I was struck by how melodic this album was. This was something I guess I'd struggled with on "Hang Cool Teddy Bear". The lyrics are resonant: "You can fall from grace in so many ways", and as relevant now as they were ten years ago. This could have been a single too. I think I'm going to be saying this a lot.

"The Giving Tree"---grabbed me from first listen and clearly would make a great live song, which it did. Again, it could have been a single.

"Mad, Mad World/The Good God is a Woman and She Don't Like Ugly"---OMG, when it gets to the bit with Chuck D., I can't believe this is happening in a Meat Loaf song and it's so cool. Of course it should be happening. An artist should be embracing new ideas. It gives me shivers whenever I hear it, and not in a bad way either.

"Party of One"---this was where the album started to lose me the first time around. This song had to grow on me which it has.

"Live or Die"---this either should have been a single or a song from a movie or TV show like "The Walking Dead". Why the hell wasn't it? It makes me mad thinking about it.

"California Dreamin'"---Meat and Patti return for one of two songs they sang together here. Meat said he thought this was a song about fear and it was the first time I ever really thought about it in this way. Their interpretation is worthy of more notice, and again it should have been a single.

"Another Day"---this lyric is deeply moving. It will stay with you after the rest of the album is finished. Again, it shows what a great actor I think Meat is, since I can visualize the character of this older man watching his daughter in pain.

"40 Days"---this was the other song that kind of lost me on first listen, but again it grows on you.

"Our Love and our Souls"---another terrific duet with Patti, and again, another single.

"Stand in the Storm"---this had been released first as a single, and then interpolated into the album. It was re-recorded for the US/European releases. I prefer the second version, but they're both great. Somebody's gotta stand in the storm!!! So get going!!!

"Blue Sky"---this song sweeps me away. In my mind, it's happening against a huge apocalyptic scenario where the world is being nuked, millions of people being wiped off the face of the earth, and then right as everything turns dark, earth is nothing but a giant human skull. The lyrics for this album reveal that there is another verse which isn't recorded here, but included on the next release.

US/European:

"All of Me"---nothing I can add here.

"The Giving Tree"---now with the song realigned, it feels like we're getting a collection of singles, which is by no means a bad thing. It makes everything feel more passionate somehow.

"Live or Die"---same as above.

"Blue Sky/Mad, Mad World/The Good God is a Woman and She Don't Like Ugly"---yeah, this is the real reason right here, why I had to own this one, because I finally get to hear Meat singing the next verse of the song. Lo and behold, when you look at the lyrics, there's a *third verse* which never even gets released. Couldn't they have put out a Japanese version with that on it??? Is there no demo at least???

"California Dreamin'"---see "Giving Tree" and "Live or Die".

"Party of One", "Another Day", "40 Days" and "Our Love and our Souls"---see above.

"Stand in the Storm"---yes, the song has been re-recorded! You don't get this from the Australian one and those fans missed out! This one seems to pack more of a wallop!

"Blue Sky"---and now the album comes to an end again, those gripping apocalyptic images.

"Fall from Grace"---wait a minute, this is the last song now? I remember a few people being bewildered by this, especially with the song cutting out at the end (where it originally transitioned into "Giving Tree"), but I like it! It just seems to work!

Was there anything else, any B-sides? No, actually, what you see is what you get. It was when Meat was preparing for the 2012 release that he told the media there was still time for Jim to make a contribution. I didn't believe that would be possible. Well, when pigs fly maybe... They would probably only work together on some kind of "Bat" musical release, but who knew? Imagine my surprise in 2013 when Meat suddenly announces, right the heck out of nowhere, that he's going to be recording Jim's "Braver Than We Are". I'm sorry, but I really need to end this on an expletive: HOLY SHIT!!!!

Ryan.